Following Potential 2026 Draftees

[Handlogten's Heros]

Why risk NBA career for NCAA career? Playing doesn't help him. If he shut it down, he's the number one pick and doesn't risk a serious injury. Quaintance has already shut it down.



The poor NIL boosters. Let's start a gofundme for them.

Some of the stuff around Peterson is concerning. I don't love the vibe. If I was an NBA team I'd be doing the deepest of dives into his personality and such. Shutting it down doesn't bother me. The weird communication (maybe not his fault) would give me reason to dig and dig and dig.

Its just a vibe but there is some Cam Whitmore vibe there.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

I guess it wasn't obvious, but I'm implying that if they had injury problems they may have shut it down.

didn't zion have injury issues? iirc, he missed several games due to injury at duke and he came back.

 

[NUMBERICA]

didn't zion have injury issues? iirc, he missed several games due to injury at duke and he came back.

And how has that worked out…?

DP (and his camp) might be galaxy brains or they might be ****-heads. Hard to tell right now.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

it is pretty great that ament is rebounding from a slow start and putting himself firmly in top 8 conversation, if not possibly top 5 or 6. we needed that from him.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

And how has that worked out…?

DP (and his camp) might be galaxy brains or they might be ****-heads. Hard to tell right now.

the point is, he could have shut it down and didn't. he wanted to compete. whether that was smart or dumb, right or wrong, he chose to compete.

either way, the idea that his nba injuries had anything to do with him coming back and playing at duke seems like a huge stretch. occam's razor would point to his weight as the primary reason for his injury issues in the nba.

 

[KqWIN]

Some of the stuff around Peterson is concerning. I don't love the vibe. If I was an NBA team I'd be doing the deepest of dives into his personality and such. Shutting it down doesn't bother me. The weird communication (maybe not his fault) would give me reason to dig and dig and dig.

Its just a vibe but there is some Cam Whitmore vibe there.

I'm sure every prospects gets a deep dive. I guess what I'm saying is that until we know the actual extent of his injury, it's hard for me to have any kind of opinion on his availability status. We don't know if he's being rushed back or if the injury is nothing at all. Depending on the actual status of his health, he could be soft or he could be toughing it out. And from my perspective I don't even care if he's "soft" if soft means he's not risking his NBA career for Kansas.

I'm going to do my best to not read into rumors and speculation about personality stuff. Feels like it just opens up an area to reconfirm our bias because we can't truly know what's real or not. Cam Whitmore was a great example. People were up in arms about the "yellow flag" report on him and thinking it was crazy that he dropped, but those concerns turned out to be entirely true.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

I tend to give players the benefit of the doubt when it comes to missing games - both in terms of them being legit injuries and the idea they those injuries won't necessary continue to follow them throughout their nba career - unless there is something unique about their build - crazy tall, heavy and dealing with foot/knee stuff, etc.

I'll give DP the same benefit of the doubt - but missing games consistently isn't nothing. it may just be a blip in his career, but it isn't zero. it's one of many small factors to consider.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I'm sure every prospects gets a deep dive. I guess what I'm saying is that until we know the actual extent of his injury, it's hard for me to have any kind of opinion on his availability status. We don't know if he's being rushed back or if the injury is nothing at all. Depending on the actual status of his health, he could be soft or he could be toughing it out. And from my perspective I don't even care if he's "soft" if soft means he's not risking his NBA career for Kansas.

I'm going to do my best to not read into rumors and speculation about personality stuff. Feels like it just opens up an area to reconfirm our bias because we can't truly know what's real or not. Cam Whitmore was a great example. People were up in arms about the "yellow flag" report on him and thinking it was crazy that he dropped, but those concerns turned out to be entirely true.

And I think Ace is an example where there was some of that stuff and it was just dumb noise. Ant obviously another that had some stuff that would make you pause.

Some of these college coaches might be huge assholes that aren't used to the new power dynamic too. I just think that the margins between the prospects are kind of thin and some of this stuff may factor in.

I just wish it was cleaner and we had a bigger sample size. Leaves some room to feel stupid one way or another.

 

[KqWIN]

didn't zion have injury issues? iirc, he missed several games due to injury at duke and he came back.

Idk, but I don't really care to analyze whether or not DP's current amount of minutes is because he's being too cautions or too reckless. We don't know the extent of this injury and tbh I don't really care if it turns out he was just being cautious. If it came out that this injury stuff was 100% fake, I would understand wanting to prioritize his future. And if a team drafting him, that is a way better situation than having injury issues that will linger through his career. I'm at like a 1.5/10 care level if he or his team is being too careful and he's not gutting it out. But the actual health side of this is a bigger concern.

 

[KqWIN]

And I think Ace is an example where there was some of that stuff and it was just dumb noise. Ant obviously another that had some stuff that would make you pause.

Some of these college coaches might be huge assholes that aren't used to the new power dynamic too. I just think that the margins between the prospects are kind of thin and some of this stuff may factor in.

I just wish it was cleaner and we had a bigger sample size. Leaves some room to feel stupid one way or another.

Some college coaches are going to care about their kids future more than others....but I'm sure there's pressure from the NIL boosters to get him in uniform. There are a lot more parties involved and it's complicated now. If I was in charge of representing DP and his best interest, I know I would be highly cautious.

The details in the interview and background work matter, but we're not actually going to know those things so I don't care to speculate much. I feel more prone to filling in the blanks with my own bias than something useful.

 

[Ben10]

We might not be able to get one of the top 3 picks. But I think any player in the top 8 of this draft is going to be a good player that helps us.